A BURGLAR who targeted East Lancashire schools was told they needed protecting from his antics as he was jailed for three years.

In just a few weeks Cy Holt, 25, struck at 10 schools and nurseries, after he had been released from a previous prison sentence for assaulting a policeman, Burnley Crown Court was told.

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A raid on White Ash Special School in Oswaldtwistle, where two iPads were taken and doors and laptops were damaged, prompted a major fundraising drive by parents.

Emma Kehoe, prosecuting, said Holt was captured on CCTV inside Stoneyholme Primary in Burnley, at around 11.30pm on October 17, after smashing a ground floor window. He left with four laptop computers but left trainer prints.

Later it emerged he had also broken into Burnley Campus, in Barden Lane. His face was not shown on security camera footage but he was still wearing the same distinctive burgundy trainers.

Miss Kehoe said police had already identified Holt as a possible suspect, as he was previously known to them.

Holt struck at White Ash School on November 21, around 1.40am, after smashing his way though ground floor double doors.

Police arrested him at lodgings in Blackburn, where officers recovered two iPads taken from White Ash and the same distinctive trainers identified in the CCTV recordings.

The court heard Holt would eventually confess to carrying out seven more burglaries at schools and nurseries across East Lancashire in October and November.

Holt, formerly of Sandhurst Street, Burnley, but who last lived in Bolton Road, Blackburn, admitted to three offences of burglary and asked for seven similar offences to be considered.

Jailing him, Judge Beverley Lunt said: “You have left a trail of damage in your wake during this crime spree.”

Holt has a previous criminal conviction for smashing his way into Casterton Primary in Burnley, in 2014, and stealing cash destined for a pupils’ outing.

Clare Thomas, defending, said Holt had found himself effectively homeless, after being released from his last prison sentence, and had carried out the offences to pay for his food and accommodation.